Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1887-08-25
CHATTER p.

Darker and darker grew the night,
the wind sounded more and more
dreary, the vessel tossed about in what
seemed to Tad terribly dangerous
manner, while he began to feel an I'M
pleasant nausea, which recalled his
first and last experience In trying to
smoke five-cent cigar.
al wonder if I amt going to be sea-
SICK thought Tad, with a terrible
sinking sensation in the neighborhood
of his stomach. 1t was fortunate that
none of the PARKWAY dots of red and
green, which represented the lights of
distant ships. came very near the track
of the MARY j. for the unfortunate
lookout very soon became insensible to
every thing but his own sufferings.
When Eph came forward to strike
the bell, poor Tad was whOoping over
the rail, in all the agonies of sea-sicl1-
ness, which was not made a particle
less painful by Eph's assertion that it
wasn't nothin' killin'-he'd soon get
over it. Meanwhile
"Ths storm grew loud apace,
The water wrath was shrieking."
And as Captain Flagg glanced at the
compass and the sky, he expressed
wish that he'd "come to anchor in the
lower bay, and hung on till mornin'.''
But wishing availed nothing, now
that the ''Mary J.'' was well out to
sea, with the March wind blowing half
a gale offshore. And as the next best
thing to being anchored was laying the
schooner to, the Captain shouted as a
preliminary warning:
''All hans short'n sail!'
"Al hands, came tumbling aft-that
is, Eph and G.. Washington Jones did.
Tad himself was already there, having
crawled into the very centre of a big
coil of rope, where he huddled down as
in big bird s-nest, grooming and sigh
ing, and occasionally family calling
upon some one to cast him into the
depths of the sea. Captain Flagg was
on the quarterback, too, his heavy
gun-boos, seeming to appear in half
dozen places simultaneously, as he
pulled. and hauled, and shouted, in the
ensuing operation of reeting, while
Polly, enwrapped as to her slim form
in sort of feminine storm-coat of
waterproof cloth. which buttoned
tightly about her, and an Oil-skin hat
fastened under her plump chin, stood
holding the wheel. in obedience to her
fathers CHEEKY commands.
All that took place was to Tad's be-
wildered mind terrible complicated
experience. He knew that while the
Mary j." was pitching and tossing
and rolling in all sorts of ways, the
sails were lowered Part way down the
mast, where they hung banging and
Stating in a most exasperating man.
ner. And he was .limly conscious of
seeing Eph's long legs astride the
boom-end, waving hither and thither,
as he tugged at a rope, while Captain
Flagg and George Washington per-
of seamanship, as despite the strug-
Cling and bellying of the stiff canvas,
they contrived to tie it down to the
boom, so that when the sails were
hoisted up again, they were not nearly
as large as before.
And then waxing bold, the gallant
old sea-dog, Captain Jethro Flagg. de-
cided that, instead of lying to till
morning, he would-to use his own
nautical expression" keep her a-jog-
ging to the nor ard and east ard"
So all through that eventful night
the 81 Mary j." pursued her billowy
course. while poor Tad, in sadly de-
moralized state of mind and body, lay
nested in the coil of rope have men